A vivid, DayGlo® scene of kids playing at the Washington Square arch, depicted by artist Takashi Murakami in his signature Japanese manga art style, decorates the cover of NYU-SCPS's Summer 2006 Bulletin of courses.

Of the design, Washington Square Arch with Kid Sprout, 2005, Murakami says, "Downtown Manhattan in the summer always makes me want to dance. I love the crowded parks and festive energy! I hope that everyone can take a break from studying and get out to discover the city's hidden treasures."

Murakami is the latest in a long line of renowned artists and designers—such as Peter Maxx, Al Hirschfeld, Paul Bacon, John Jinks, Teresa Fasolino, and Rafal Olbinski, among others—who, over the past 30 years, have produced unique pieces of art for the Bulletin cover, creating an iconic brand image for SCPS. Some even say it's The New Yorker of college catalogs. "Even if you don't read it, you pick it up for the cover."

About Takashi Murakami

Artist and president of Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., Takashi Murakami was born in Tokyo in 1962 and received his B.F.A., M.F.A., and Ph.D. from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. He has had solo shows at the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris (2002); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2001); the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2001); as well as large-scale public installations at Rockefeller Center (2003) and Grand Central Station (2001), New York. He will be the subject of a traveling midcareer survey organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 2007.

Through his work, Murakami has played with the lines between East and West, past and present, and high art and low culture, while remaining consistently amusing and accessible. For example, his handbag design produced by Louis Vuitton in 2002 proved to be a hot ticket item for fashionistas worldwide. In addition to his work as an artist, Murakami is a curator, entrepreneur, and a student of contemporary Japanese society. Over the last five years, his trilogy of curated exhibitions, "Superflat," "Coloriage," and "Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture" has opened around the world, gathering critical and popular success, including the award "Best Thematic Museum Show in New York City" in 2005 given to "Little Boy" by the AICA/USA (the American chapter of the International Association of Art Critics).

Murakami lives and works in Saitama, Japan, and New York City.

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